Solicitor instructions: what actually happens once conditions clear.

Solicitor instructions are the lender's formal package to the closing lawyer or notaire: the mortgage terms to be registered, the amount to be advanced, any conditions the solicitor must certify as satisfied — like confirming property insurance is in place — and, on a refinance or switch, the payout figure for an existing mortgage that needs to be discharged.

They're a separate document from the commitment letter the broker and borrower already saw, and they can include requirements the earlier commitment didn't spell out in detail, which is one reason a solicitor's office sometimes comes back with a question the broker didn't see coming.

The timing gap between a commitment being signed and instructions actually reaching the solicitor's desk is worth watching closely, since it isn't always instantaneous — some lenders issue instructions the same day conditions clear, others batch them, and a broker who assumes the lawyer already has everything can be surprised to learn, days later, that the file is still sitting in the lender's outbound queue.

The instructions also typically name the specific law firm or the client's own chosen solicitor, and lenders occasionally maintain an approved panel a borrower has to choose from rather than using any lawyer they like — a detail worth confirming early, since a client who books a signing with a firm outside the lender's panel can find the appointment has to be rebooked once the mismatch is caught.

• →A title search confirming the seller or borrower actually holds clear title, and identifying any existing encumbrances that need to be dealt with
• →Property tax status, to confirm nothing owing will attach ahead of the new mortgage
• →Identity verification of the borrower, under the solicitor's own professional obligations
• →Confirmation of a valid property insurance binder naming the lender as loss payee
• →The correct registration priority, so the new mortgage registers in the position the lender expects

Electronic signatures are accepted throughout this process in most of the country — the article on e-signatures on Canadian mortgage files covers where that does and doesn't apply.

The title search deserves particular attention on a refinance rather than a purchase, since the solicitor is searching a property the borrower has already owned for years, sometimes with encumbrances — an old line of credit that was never formally discharged, a lien nobody remembered — that never surfaced when the original mortgage was placed. Clearing an unexpected encumbrance found at this stage can add real days to a file that otherwise looked ready to close.

The other provinces and territories each run their own land registration system, and while most are electronic in some form today, the details — who can sign, what identification a solicitor must retain, how quickly registration confirms — vary enough that a broker working files across provincial lines shouldn't assume Ontario's process, or any single province's process, is the default everywhere else.

Confirming the lawyer's office actually received the instructions, that a signing appointment is booked with enough lead time, and following up quickly if the solicitor comes back with a last document request are all still the broker's job in practice, even though the underwriting is done. The mortgage closing process from commitment to funding covers the fuller closing sequence this stage sits inside.

Brokers who hand this follow-up to Treadstone's fulfillment associates get someone confirming the solicitor has what they need days before closing, rather than finding out there's a gap the morning of. The Closing-Week Checklist guide lays out that follow-up as a repeatable list.

Clients also tend to underestimate this stage, assuming that once they've signed the commitment the rest is paperwork someone else handles. A short, plain-language explanation from the broker — that a lawyer or notaire still has to verify title, book a signing, and register before anything actually closes — sets expectations correctly and heads off the anxious call that comes in when a client hasn't heard anything for a few days and assumes something has gone wrong.